Nested Validation

ReqShield supports nested arrays with dot notation and wildcard rules. Enable this with enableNestedValidation().

Enable Nested Validation

$validator = Validator::make([
    // Dot/wildcard rules
])->enableNestedValidation();

Flattening modes:

• enableNestedValidation() or enableNestedValidation(true): flatten all paths.

• enableNestedValidation(false): flatten only required paths (lower memory for large payloads).

• setNestedFlattenMode('all'|'required'): explicit control.

Example

Let’s say you have the following data structure:

$nestedData = [
    'user' => [
        'email' => '[email protected]',
        'name' => 'John Doe',
        'profile' => [
            'age' => 25,
            'bio' => 'Software developer',
        ],
    ],
];

You can define rules to validate this structure like so:

$validator = Validator::make([
    'user.email' => 'required|email',
    'user.name' => 'required|min:3',
    'user.profile.age' => 'required|integer|min:18',
    'user.profile.bio' => 'string|max:500',
])->enableNestedValidation();

$result = $validator->validate($nestedData);

if ($result->passes()) {
    echo "✓ Nested validation works!\n";

    // Validated data uses dot keys for nested paths
    $validated = $result->validated();
    /*
    [
        'user.email' => '[email protected]',
        'user.name' => 'John Doe',
        'user.profile.age' => 25,
        'user.profile.bio' => 'Software developer'
    ]
    */
}

Validation Failures

ReqShield correctly handles errors for nested fields, including when they are missing.

$invalidNested = [
    'user' => [
        'email' => 'not-an-email',
        'name' => 'Jo', // Fails min:3
        // 'profile' key is missing
    ],
];

$result = $validator->validate($invalidNested);

if ($result->fails()) {
    echo "✗ Nested validation catches errors:\n";
    $errors = $result->errors();
    /*
    [
        'user.email' => ['The user.email must be a valid email address.'],
        'user.name' => ['The user.name must be at least 3.'],
        'user.profile.age' => ['The user.profile.age field is required.']
    ]
    */
}

Wildcard Array Validation

Use * to validate each item in indexed arrays.

$validator = Validator::make([
    'contacts.*.email' => 'required|email',
    'contacts.*.name' => 'required|min:2',
])->enableNestedValidation();

$data = [
    'contacts' => [
        ['email' => '[email protected]', 'name' => 'John'],
        ['email' => '[email protected]', 'name' => 'Jane'],
    ],
];

$result = $validator->validate($data);

ReqShield expands wildcard rules into concrete indexed fields (for example contacts.0.email).

If a specific item fails, the error key includes its index:

$invalid = [
    'contacts' => [
        ['email' => 'bad-email', 'name' => 'A'],
    ],
];

$result = $validator->validate($invalid);
$errors = $result->errors();
/*
[
    'contacts.0.email' => ['The contacts.0.email must be a valid email address.'],
    'contacts.0.name' => ['The contacts.0.name must be at least 2.']
]
*/

Wildcard Aliases and Messages

Wildcard aliases and custom messages also work for nested arrays.

$validator = Validator::make([
    'contacts.*.email' => 'required|email',
])->enableNestedValidation()
  ->setFieldAliases([
      'contacts.*.email' => 'Contact Email',
  ])
  ->setCustomMessages([
      'contacts.*.email.email' => 'Each :field must be valid.',
  ]);